‘80pc women don’t know how to get loans’

LAHORE:An alliance of 25 organisations that does advocacy for protection of women, launched four reports of Oxfam here Tuesday.

Briefing a session by civil society activists and media persons, Dr Nasira Malik of Oxfam said the purpose of these studies was to identify gaps in implementation. The presentations were by Dr Raana, Head of the Department of Gender Studies, Punjab University. She presented an overview of key issues of women in three provinces, Punjab, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. Her team had interviewed 1,000 women in two-three months only.

The key findings were that only one-fourth of the women, that is 26.6 percent have the agency to spend their income whilst the rest are under pressure of their families. Women are most aware of their right to inheritance in Lahore and the confidence to get it. They are 76.4 percent. Pay gaps are 86.4 percent in Lahore and 90.3pc in Peshawar.

Around 80 percent women don’t know how to get loans to start a business; 75.1pc women asked for training and assistance in using computer effectively. Dr Raana said, “In Lahore, more women are facing cyber harassment. Implementation of laws against harassment calls for forming committees in institutions and workplaces in the first place.”

Dr Tasneem Ahmer shared her research “Bridging the Information and Knowledge Gaps”. Of the women interviewed 56 percent said they bought food on credit or borrowed money from non-relatives; 43pc women were unable to afford their children’s school fee; 17pc said they had to withdraw their children from school.

Ameena Rehman’s research was on how women were facing problems in receiving cash in Ehsaas Programme and the benefits of social protection. “When social protection is there people see the importance of having CNIC—citizenship,” she said. She underlined the importance of having a cell phone through which women know the cash they are entitled to receive. She said there is need to improve collection sites, organise them better, adding there is lack of trust in the system. LUMS scholar Maria Nazar’s research was on home-based workers’ vulnerabilities and the need to empower them with technology to reach out to people. She said, “We need to subsidise women’s access to technology and devices. Home-based workers need money on daily basis.” The convener of the Mumkin Alliance Salman Abid said, in 2010, the biggest contribution in Women’s Protection Act was of Mumkin Alliance.